OCTOBER 15 2008

Tamaki Makaurau Voters Back Sharples In Maori Television Poll

A political poll commissioned by Maori Television shows that Dr Pita Sharples is the leading candidate for winning – and retaining – the Tamaki Makaurau seat with 80 per cent of voters supporting him for another three years as their local Member of Parliament.

While the Maori Party co-leader clearly leads the electorate race over Labour’s Louisa Wall (11 per cent) and Mikaere Curtis of the Greens (four per cent), Tamaki Makaurau voters are more likely to support Labour (42 per cent) than the Maori Party (36 per cent) with their party list vote. National wins just 11 per cent of the Maori vote with the Greens (five per cent) and NZ First (four per cent) gathering the remaining support.

The special analysis of Maori voters’ opinions of political parties, electoral candidates and issues in the Tamaki Makaurau electorate was unveiled tonight (Wednesday October 15) on KOWHIRI ’08 – a series of political programmes screening on Maori Television every Tuesday and Wednesday at 8.30 PM until November 5.

KOWHIRI ’08 is co-hosted by Native Affairs presenter Julian Wilcox and Te Kaea political reporter Tina Wickliffe and includes expert commentary from panelists Ms Sandra Lee and Dr Ann Sullivan as well as additional observations by political scientist Dr Maria Bargh and Dr Ranginui Walker.

The research – prepared by Baseline Consultancy and TNS Direct – polled 500 voter eligible Maori voters registered on the Tamaki Makaurau Maori roll between October 2 to 10 2008. The maximum margin of error is 4.5 per cent.

Consistent with the Party vote support for Labour, Helen Clark is this poll’s most preferred politician to be Prime Minister. Approximately a third (32 per cent) of all Tamaki Makaurau voters interviewed opted for Clark as PM. Only 10 per cent of this electorate’s voters would pick John Key as their next PM behind Pita Sharples (13 per cent) and Winston Peters (11 per cent).

The top four most important issues for Maori in Tamaki Makaurau were: a positive future for their children; access to quality education for their children; access to affordable quality health services; and a belief that people can feel safe in their homes or out on the street. Between 80 to 91 per cent of those polled regarded these four issues as being very important to them. The ‘second tier’ issues are: access to affordable quality housing in their area (64 per cent very important); fair settlement of Treaty of Waitangi claims (62 per cent); and good jobs in their area (61 per cent).

Of note was that the Labour Party was most commonly seen as the party that would do the best job of delivering on six of these seven issues, particularly providing access to affordable quality housing (50 per cent) and health services (48 per cent) in the voters’ local area. The Maori Party, however, was most widely regarded as the party that would ensure that there was a fair settlement of treaty claims (63 per cent) and a third of the electorate sample believed that the Maori Party would do the best job of ensuring that the voters’ children would have a positive future.

MMP VOTING – PARTY VOTE: If a general election was held yesterday, which political party would you have voted for?

Political party

Party Vote %

Labour

42

Maori Party

36

National

11

Green Party

5

NZ First

4

Progressive

-

ACT

0.5

United

0.2

Alliance

-

All others

0.9

Base (those with an opinion )

425

Don’t know/undecided

14

Would not vote

1

Total Sample

500

PREFERRED ELECTORAL CANDIDATE – TAMAKI MAKAURAU:

Candidate

%

Pita Sharples (Maori Party)

80

Louisa Wall (Labour)

11

Mikaere Curtis (Green)

4

Other

6

Base (those with an opinion )

455

None (don’t read)

2

Don’t know (don’t read)

7

Total Sample

500

PREFERRED PRIME MINISTER:

Total

Main candidates

%

Helen Clark

32

Pita Sharples

13

Winston Peters

11

John Key

10

Tariana Turia

2

Phil Goff

0.6

Others (less than 0.5 %)

9

None

4

Don’t know

18

Base:

500

IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR MAORI VOTERS IN TAMAKI MAKAURAU:

Issue

Very important

%

Quite important

%

Not that important

%

Of no importance to me

%

Don’t know not applicable

%

Quality education for my children

91

7

0.8

0.6

0.8

Access to affordable quality health services

80

16

3.2

0.2

1

Fair settlement of treaty claims

62

25

11

1.8

1.2

Good jobs in my area

61

26

11

1.2

0.8

Access to affordable, quality housing in my area

64

26

8

1.6

1.2

People can feel safe in their homes or out on the street

88

10

1.6

0.2

0

My children will have a positive future

90

6

1

0.6

2.4

Base :500

WHICH POLITICAL PARTY MAORI VOTERS BELIEVE WOULD DO THE BEST JOB OF DELIVERING ON THESE ISSUES:

Issue

Labour

%

Maori Party

%

National

Party

%

NZ First

%

Greens

%

None

%

Don’t know

%

Your children receive quality education

42

27

14

1

0.8

4

11

You can access affordable quality health services

48

24

6

2

3

4

12

There is fair settlement of treaty claims

22

63

4

1

1

3

6

There are good jobs in my area

45

18

16

2

0.2

5

14

Access to affordable, quality housing in my area

50

20

9

2

2

5

13

People can feel safe in their homes or out on the street

31

22

20

3

3

8

13

Your children will have a positive future

34

32

12

2

6

4

11

Base : 500

WHICH TAMAKI MAKAURAU CANDIDATE WOULD YOU ASSOCIATE WITH THESE STATEMENTS:

Statements

Louisa Wall Labour

%

Pita Sharples Maori Party

%

Mikaere Curtis Greens

%

Other

Candidates

%

None

%

Don’t know

%

Can be trusted

14

64

4

11

10

14

Will deliver on promises

13

60

4

9

10

16

Knows the needs of the local people

16

72

5

14

3

12

Is experienced in politics

13

67

3

7

5

17

Is a capable leader

11

73

2

7

5

11

Would be good in a crisis

15

64

3

8

5

17

Has lots of personality

12

73

4

9

3

10

Base : 500

The next political poll will focus on the Maori electorate of Waiariki (Tuesday October 21) followed by Te Tai Hauauru (Wednesday October 22); Te Tai Tokerau (Tuesday October 28); Te Tai Tonga (Wednesday October 29); Hauraki Waikato (Tuesday November 4); and Ikaroa Rawhiti (Wednesday November 5).

Maori Television’s coverage of the 2008 General Election – KOWHIRI ’08 – screens every Tuesday and Wednesday at 8.30 PM until November 5 with live-to-air election night coverage on Saturday November 8 at 6.00 PM. For more information, go to the website www.maoritelevision.com.

ENDS

A political poll commissioned by Maori Television shows that Dr Pita Sharples is the leading candidate for winning – and retaining – the Tamaki Makaurau seat with 80 per cent of voters supporting him for another three years as their local Member of Parliament.

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